Endure It

"What now...?", Stes asked Venator as they gathered the corpses.

"We'll return to Marineford. The ship's condition is enough for that."

"No, I meant, wouldn't it look suspicious if we're the only ones who returned, much less with no injuries?"

Venator acknowledged Stes' statement and answered him, "I know, and we'll solve that right now."

"How?"

"You already know."

Venator then stood up and blinked behind Stes, while offering encouragement, "You can endure it. You've endured much worse before."

Venator started brutally beating Stes up, and Stes tried fighting back, "Is this your way of handling it!?!?"

"It works, and it'll provide extra training for you as well."

Stes was getting bruises and cuts all over his body from Venator bashing him with his bow, and he tried to retaliate.

Surprisingly, Venator let the blow hit him rather than dodge or block it as usual, his reasoning being, "I'd need to look injured as well."

The two started brawling with their bare hands, but Venator was obviously dealing more damage to Stes, far more damage.

Eventually, Venator broke Stes' first bone.

"ARGH!"

Stes shouted out in pain as Venator apologetically smiled at him.

"F*ck you!", Venator's actions elicited a battle cry from Stes as he doubled up his efforts in injuring Venator.

"Where'd you learn that word?", Venator was more concerned with Stes' inappropriate vocabulary than the attempts at harming him.

"Go to hell!"

"Haaaa... It seems you need to learn not to swear..."

Venator then grabbed Stes' face and pushed him onto the ground, standing over Stes menacingly.

Venator then started beating Stes playfully, and he stopped once Stes looked injured enough.

"Damn you!"

"Watch your language. Want another round?"

That immediately shut Stes' mouth, and he silently glared at Venator.

"Now, it'll be my turn," Venator said, and Stes' eyes lit up, "But, you won't be the one doing it. Can't have you be used to hitting me, after all."

Stes deflated in disappointment, and Venator chuckled as he materialized daggers in his hand.

Venator then began his process of self-mutilating, grimacing as his dagger cut deeply into his skin.

"Hey, I can do it for you, you know.", this time, Stes' proposal was sincere, as he clearly saw that Venator did not enjoy self-harm.

"It's fine. Focus on gathering the bodies. We need to at least give them a proper burial."

'After all, they were good bait.' went unsaid in the air.

Venator continued his self harm for a while longer, before being satisfied with himself.

He then walked over to Tiberius' body, pausing before kneeling to pick him up.

"Put the pirates in a separate place. It'd make the collectors' jobs easier."

"Okay."

"We'll split the bounty 70-30."

"Okay."

Stes easily agreed to Venator's proposal as he was aware that he did little during the battle against Tiberius, and a 30% share was enough for his contribution in killing Tiberius' crewmembers.

After gathering and separating the corpses, the two prepared to sail back to Marineford, before Venator remembered something; He'd almost forgotten to loot the pirate ships.

"Wait a moment, Stes. Let's loot the pirate ships. You can have the two ships at the back, I'll take the two ships in front."

"Mmh."

Venator and Stes split off to get their spoils of war, Venator headed straight for Tiberius' ship first.

He got onto the ship before heading down into the captain's cabin, his purpose being to look for... any connections to his brother(s).

From the moment when Tiberius emphasized on his last name, Sova, he instinctively knew that Tiberius had some special connections with one of his brothers, and he decided to look for any clues towards them. Preferably Erobus.

When he entered the cabin, he first looked under the bed and in the closets, while pushing at the wooden boards for any hidden compartments.

He ended up not finding any, and he finally decided to head to the table.

On the table, he saw 3 things' a quill and ink, a map, and... a Den Den Mushi.

His eyes hardened at the Den Den Mushi, and he hesitantly reached out for him.

*PURURURURU*

*KATCHA*

He called the number assigned to the Den Den Mushi, and he reached...

"My lord? Has your hunt for Pabulum been successful?"

Venator's breath stilled at the name Pabulum, and he realized; there was a traitor among them.

He decided to find the traitor's purpose, and imitated Tiberius' voice.

"Yeah. He was stronger than I'd expect."

"I see... is there anything you need of me, my lord?"

"Information on the cadets."

"The elite camp ones?"

"What do you think?"

"My apologies...", the man on the other side took a deep breath before continuing, "The two other ships, Captain Ajax and Zephyr's, has already returned to Marineford, and they're thinking of sending out a search for Pabulum's ship. I believe one of the captains said that they'd wait one more day before sending a search for Pabulum's ship."

"I see. Keep up your good work."

"My lord... can I ask a question?", the other party hesitantly asked 'Tiberius'.

"Go ahead."

"When... when can I return to my family?"

Venator paused. At first, he'd believe that the other party was doing the spying of their own free will, but it seem like he'd been mistaken. After all, who would willingly do such a dangerous job?

"You know when. Don't ask useless questions."

Venator decided to go for a bluff, and it seemingly worked.

"I'm sorry... is that all you need of me, my lord?"

"You can go now."

"Goodbye, my lord."

*KATCHA*

The Den Den Mushi was disconnected, and Venator decided to bring it with him. He might need it one day, after all.

Then, he looked to the other item of interest of Tiberius' table; the map.

It seemed like the map illustrated the many different areas of Basati Island, including an area where treasures were stashed.

Venator had half a mind to go there right now, but he decided to head back to Marineford. After all, being away for too long is never a good thing.

He then left Tiberius' ship and boarded the other one, doing a quick search and leaving in disappointment after finding nothing of value.

"Tch."

He clicked his tongue as he returned to the Marine ship, waiting for Stes to return from his collecting journey as well.

Not long after Stes returned, carrying a chest with him.

Venator rose an eyebrow as he looked at the chest Stes was carrying, and he asked Stes, "What's inside?"

"I don't know. I can't open the chest."

"Need help?"

"Sure."

Stes handed the chest over to Venator as he put a palm in front of the keyhole, letting blue energy seep into it, before twisting his palm.

The chest unlocked with a click, and he handed it back to Stes.

When Stes opened it, he was met with... a strangely patterned fruit.

"That's a devil fruit.", both of them said out loud at once.

Venator looked seriously at Stes, "What will you do with it? This could very well decide the direction your life moves in."

Stes hesitated before replying, "I don't know yet."

"That's fine. You are in no rush to make a choice. Save it for whatever you wish to do."

Stes nodded at Venator's words, before closing and asking Venator to lock the chest, which he gladly did.

"Let's go back now."

...

Venator and Stes' journey back to Marineford was smooth with no interactions with any life. After all, everyone on their ship was dead, and no one would be there to bother a Marine ship in the middle of nowhere.

When they arrived back at the docks, instructor Zephyr, captain Ajax, and an unknown captain was waiting for them.

The smell of blood immediately hit the three Marines' nose, and coupled with Stes and Venator's beat up appearances, they rushed onto the ship, flying past Venator and Stes as they looked around.

The moment they entered the ship, they were met with a horrifying sight.

All the cadets in there were dead, most of them having splinters piercing their bodies.

There was a moment of silence, before Zephyr bit his lips as he walked to Stes and Venator.

He looked at Venator before comforting him.

"There was nothing you could do."

Venator did not say anything to that. Instead, he pointed towards the pile of pirate corpses at the back of the ship.

Zephyr looked over and saw that many of them had arrows in their head, and he recognized Tiberius' badly mutilated body.

"You did this?", Zephyr said as he gestured towards the hole in Tiberius' body, not seeing anything that Venator could do to cause that much damage.

Venator hesistantly nodded in confirmation. He needed to take credits for the kill as he needed the merit points for training.

To prove his power, Venator held his palm out and conjured wisps of blue energy, which blended in perfectly with the sky.

Zephyr glanced at the energy before nodded, "I didn't know you were a devil fruit user."

Venator offered no responses to that, and Zephyr respected his silence and didn't ask more.

"Come with me."

Zephyr ordered them to come with him, heading to the Fleet Admiral's office to report the incident.

Zephyr knocked on the door as they arrived, opening to enter.

"Sir."

The three saluted the Fleet Admiral, Kong, as he rose an eyebrow at Zephyr, asking what he came in here for.

Then, he spotted the beat-up condition of Stes and Venator.

Zephyr explained, "All the recruits on the third ship are dead, except for these two."

Kong took a moment to process that information; all the recruits on a ship, except for two, are dead. That means 32 family are grieving for their children.

He grimly nodded before saying, "We'll hold a funeral for them in two days. Prepare to accommodate the grieving families."

Zephyr nodded, before leaving with Stes and Venator.

"You two are dismissed for now. Return to your dorms and clean up."

The two nodded before they left for their dorms, attracting attention with their appearances.

Stes and Venator took a shower before returning to their room, Borsalino greeting them with a raised eyebrow as they walked in.

"Ho~ You guys are wounded pretty badly."

"How'd you tell?", the witty remark came from Stes.

"Haha~ That means you just need to train more~"

Stes muttered under his breath, "The injury didn't even come from the pirates."

"Hm? You say something?", Venator asked him in response.

"Nope."

"That's what I thought."

Venator and Stes then headed to their own corners of the room, before laying on their bed and passing out.